1. Administrator's Guide
  2. Software updates

Software Updates & Maintenance RenewalUpdates add new features and fix bugs, and keep the software working when a new version of Microsoft Excel is released.

There are two kinds of update:

  • Major updates include new features and important bug fixes.
  • Minor updates fix bugs that affect only a few customers, or that happen only in particular circumstances.

The software periodically checks for updates using your internet connection and tells you when a major update is available. Minor updates are not announced this way. If a minor update affects you, you are told by e-mail, or through the crash reporting built into the software.

Maintenance must be active to download and install an update. See Maintenance.

Maintenance

Maintenance gives you every software update released while it is active. If it expires the software keeps working, but only up to the last version released before the expiry date.

A perpetual license includes one year of maintenance when you buy it. Renewing is optional. The registered user is notified by e-mail 30 days before maintenance expires, and again on the day it expires.

An annual license includes maintenance for as long as the license lasts, and both end together. Renew the license to continue using the software.

See Checking maintenance expiry and renewing.

Updating the software

  • Check your maintenance is active. See Maintenance.
  • If your computer is behind a firewall, open TCP port 443 (HTTPS) for communication to license-server.analyse-it.com.

Analyse-it checks for updates periodically and tells you when one is available. You can also check for one yourself.

When Analyse-it is installed for everyone who uses the computer, updating it replaces the copy everyone shares. Windows asks for administrator rights when the update starts. If you do not have them, ask your administrator to install the update; see Deploying the software.

Important: Analyse-it cannot update itself when it runs from a network location, or when your administrator has turned off updating. It shows a message and stops. See Turning off updates.
  1. Start Microsoft Excel to start Analyse-it.
  2. On the Analyse-it ribbon tab, click Analyse-it, and then click Check for Updates.
  3. Click Check Now.

    The software uses your internet connection to check for updates.

  4. If an update is available:
    • Click Download and Install to install it now.
    • Click Download to keep the installer and install it later.

Analyse-it asks you to close Microsoft Excel before it installs the update. Analyse-it starts again with Excel afterwards, and your license stays activated.

Turning off updates

  • Analyse-it 6.22 or later on each computer. Earlier versions ignore the setting.
  • You will need an administrator to make this change on each computer.

When Analyse-it is installed for everyone who uses the computer, anyone with administrator rights on that computer can install an update. Turn updating off when you want to control which version people use, for example on a virtual desktop, or where you deploy updates yourself.

Analyse-it still checks for updates and still tells people when one is available. It cannot install one.

Important: The setting only applies where Analyse-it is installed for everyone who uses the computer. Analyse-it ignores it when the software is installed just for a Windows account.
Set this registry value on each computer:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Analyse-it\Analyse-it for Microsoft Excel

Value name DisableUpdates, type REG_DWORD, data 1. Set it to 0, or delete it, to allow updates again.

Use Group Policy Preferences to set it on many computers.

Analyse-it shows a message telling the person to contact their administrator, and does not install the update. Deploy updates yourself; see Deploying the software.

Turning off license notices

  • Analyse-it 6.22 or later on each computer. Earlier versions ignore the setting.
  • You will need an administrator to make this change on each computer.

Analyse-it tells the person using it when the license or its maintenance is about to expire, and again after it has expired. Each notice offers to open analyse-it.com to renew. Turn the notices off when you renew licenses for the people in your organisation and do not want them contacted about renewals.

The software stops working on the day an annual license expires. When that happens Analyse-it shows one more notice, which says that you have turned the notices off and that the person must contact you. The notice does not offer to open analyse-it.com. It is shown once for each expiry date, so renewing the license shows it again the next time that license expires.

Important: The setting applies however Analyse-it was installed, for everyone who uses the computer or just for a Windows account. This is not the same as DisableUpdates, which Analyse-it reads only when the software is installed for everyone who uses the computer. See Turning off updates.
Note: A free trial is not affected. The trial continues to show the days remaining, and that it has ended.
Set this registry value on each computer:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Analyse-it\Analyse-it for Microsoft Excel

Value name DisableLicenseNotices, type REG_DWORD, data 1. Set it to 0, or delete it, to show the notices again.

Use Group Policy Preferences to set it on many computers.

Analyse-it no longer shows license expiry or maintenance renewal notices, apart from the final notice for an annual license that has expired. Check the expiry dates yourself and renew before they pass; see Checking maintenance expiry and renewing.

This setting changes only the notices shown by the software on that computer. E-mail about maintenance expiring is still sent to the people registered on the license.

Checking maintenance expiry and renewing

  • Activate the software, so it knows which license to check.

Check the expiry date before you plan an upgrade, or when an update will not install.

  1. Start Microsoft Excel to start Analyse-it.
  2. On the Analyse-it ribbon tab, click Analyse-it, and then click Extend Maintenance.
    Your browser opens analyse-it.com/store/maintenance, showing the expiry date and the cost to renew.

Renewed maintenance applies to the licenses covered by your product key. The software detects the change at its next update check.